Israel is seeking Italy's leading role in peacekeeping in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement yesterday.

Olmert expressed the country's intention during a telephone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, according to the statement.

Olmert asked Prodi to supply an Italian contingent that would patrol "border posts between Syria and Lebanon," stressing that "Italy is a fundamental part" of a multinational force to be deployed in the region.

"It is important that Italy should lead the international force and send troops to oversee the Lebanon-Syria border crossings," Olmert told Prodi.

Meanwhile, "Israel doesn't want to see within the multinational force soldiers from countries whose governments supported Hezbollah," Olmert's office said in another statement. Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper website quoted Olmert assaying that "Israel is opposed to the participation in the multinational force of contingents from states with which it has no (diplomatic) relations."

During the phone talks, Prodi, on his part, told Olmert that his country intends to send a logical contingent that would be able to fulfill its mission and the matter would be submitted to parliament for consideration.

Media reports said that the Italian government has not pecified how many troops it is prepared to send to Lebanon, but some officials gave the figure up to 3,000, maybe the biggest contributors to the multinational peacekeeping force.

Olmert made the call for Italy's leading role following France's apparent reluctance to commit more than 200 additional troops to Lebanon.

France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, has begun to deploy a contingent of 200 troops, a much smaller number than expected by Israel and the international community.

Israel launched a massive assault in Lebanon on July 12 after Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others during cross-border raids.

The 34-day-long conflict came to a ceasefire on Aug. 14 thanks to the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which demands an immediate, full cessation of hostilities and authorizes an expansion of the existing UN force in Lebanon to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon while Israel withdraws in parallel.